


the world is out there, my dear, but we're in here

by hailqiqi



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Post-S6, Talking, and there was a cave, cause it's raining, implied anyway, waiting out the rain in a cave, with a capital T
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-16
Updated: 2018-07-16
Packaged: 2019-06-11 03:57:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15306984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hailqiqi/pseuds/hailqiqi
Summary: The rain was deafening.The cave was quiet.Lance was finally ready to speak.





	the world is out there, my dear, but we're in here

**Author's Note:**

> I woke up with this scenario and the last line in my head and just had to get it out.
> 
> I hope you like it cause it's 2am and I put off writing fic with deadlines for this @.@
> 
> Shout-out to FromageInterrupted for help with the title <3

Rain thundered down outside, its deafening roar taking Lance back to afternoons spent studying English and Physics while tropical storms pelted the windows. The cave mouth was a veritable waterfall, and if Lance squinted he could almost imagine there was glass between them and the downpour.

Almost, but not quite. Either way, they were safe for now.

Pidge perched on a boulder a few feet away, clad only in her black undersuit, watching the rain with a faraway look on her face. Maybe she was remembering childhood summer afternoons, too; Arizona had its own brand of summer downpour.

Their armour lay on the cave floor, spread out to dry. In a corner lay the blue and green helmets, kicked aside after Keith had told them to lie low until the downpour finished and the others could get there to provide an extraction. The Yu'yals had taken shelter themselves, so they were at least safe from pursuit for now.

Drumming his fingers against his knee, Lance reached a decision. It was time to address the elephant in the room.

"Hey, Pidge? Can we talk?"

"Hm?" Pidge turned towards him slowly, squinting through the gloom, her brow furrowed. "Talk about what?"

"About..." He shifted, settling close enough that he could reach out and touch her if he so wanted. She tilted her head at him, confusion obvious in her gaze. "You like me, right?"

Pidge froze. The reaction was so subtle that Lance would have missed it if he hadn't been watching for it -- she relaxed herself almost immediately, eyebrows raised in casual challenge -- but she'd reacted, all the same.

"Of course I like you," she said dismissively. "We're friends."

He reached over and flicked her nose gently. "You know that's not what I mean. I know you _like_ like me. Hunk told me."

A shadow passed over her expression, a flicker of despair before Pidge shut it down, sliding her gaze back to the rain outside before replying in a monotone, "Why would he do that."

Lance didn't take his eyes off her, carefully studying every twitch of her features for clues. "The mice told me. I asked Hunk to confirm it. He eventually gave in and told me."

Pidge shrugged.

"You've liked me for years."

She slid her gaze to him briefly, then looked back at the rain. "Three. So?"

"Everyone knew but me."

Her entire body jolted. "What?!" she squeaked. "Everyone?!"

"Yeah, everyone," he replied, barely suppressing a laugh. "Didn't you know?"

"No!" She finally looked at him, gesturing wildly, rigid fear forgotten in favour of mortified embarrassment. "I didn't tell anyone! I mean I know you don't like me back, why would I tell anyone? I..." Trailing off, she ran her fingers through her bangs before continuing. "I guess I didn't realise I was being so obvious. I'm surprised you only just found out."

Lance hesitated, and Pidge quickly moved to fill the silence. "Look, this is my problem, okay? I don't want things between us to be awkward and I really like being your friend, so can you just pretend you don't know and I'll figure--"

"Nobody wanted to tell me, Pidge..." he began, cutting her rambling off before losing his steam again. She met his gaze for a moment, then shrugged and looked back at the falling rain, curling in on herself slightly.

Lance took a deep breath. The whole point of this conversation was to be honest, right? Rip it off like a band-aid.

"Nobody wanted to tell me because they thought I'd take advantage of you."

Pidge looked at him sharply.

"They figured I'd go 'oh, hey, Pidge is available...' and didn't want to see you get hurt," he elaborated.

She studied him coolly, one eyebrow raised. "So this is your way of saying 'oh, hey, Pidge is available'?"

Lance scoffed. "I've known for three months now, Pidge. We're kinda past that."

Her gaze was unwavering, the expression on her face familiar, and Lance was suddenly acutely aware of how _calculating_ Pidge could be. Behind those eyes lay one of the most powerful supercomputers in the universe, and right now? All of its problem-solving power was focused on him.

Eventually, she spoke, a single word with all the weight of forty-two. "So?"

"So..." he repeated, trying to think of the best way to put it. "So, I wanted to apologise."

A tilt of the head, a furrow of the brow. A cute scrunch of the nose. "For what?"

"For..." He shifted a little closer, satisfied pride spurring him on when she didn't move away. "For spending three years only looking at the princess and every other girl who passed by."

Pidge's expression shuttered closed again, her shoulders drooping as she tried to brush it off. "It's not your fault. It's not like you knew." She frowned. "Or like you had a duty to care."

"That's not what I mean," he corrected gently, reaching out and grazing his fingertips along her jawline, stopping her from looking down. Pidge closed her eyes briefly and _shuddered_ before pulling away. The reaction made Lance's heart soar, but he had to choose his words carefully.

He needed her to know he was sincere.

"Look," he began, retracting his hand but keeping his eyes on Pidge's. "When we got to space, a literal _princess_ fell into my arms. It was like the start to every fairy-tale romance, right? And I got so carried away with that that I forgot to look around and check out reality."

Pidge frowned. "What are you saying?"

"What I'm saying is... I'm sorry for never looking at you. For never even thinking to. That wasn't fair on you."

Her eyes searched his as Lance leaned in, stopping just shy of resting his forehead on hers. Warm breath ghosted over his skin, sending goosebumps down his spine; small fingers tangled in the fabric at his collarbone, making his heart race; and cool flesh rested under his palm as he cupped her jaw, tilting her head just so.

The rain was deafening.

The cave was quiet.

"What I'm saying is," he breathed, his voice barely a whisper, "I'm looking at you now."


End file.
